Forsaken - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

Last week we looked at the passion of Christ and a brief glimpse into the depths of unrestrained human cruelty amazing restraint and love that Jesus showed us as He suffered.

Today we’re going to look at Jesus’ death on the cross. I mentioned last week that the crucifixion stories communicate the central point of our faith in Christ that Jesus took on our sins and died in our place. He was our substitute, the scapegoat who took the fall for us and He did it all without even trying to defend Himself.

The OT tells us that the ancient Jews would select a goat to become the scapegoat for the sins of the people. The high priest would symbolically place the sins of the people on the head of the scapegoat and it would then be led out of the city and banished to the wilderness. Its only job was to carry the sins of the people away.

There was one problem though, sometimes the scapegoat would wander back into the city which would cause quite a stir because to them it was sign that God had rejected the scapegoat and that their sins still remained.

But Jesus didn’t come down from the cross, He didn’t avoid death in fact He embraced it fully by taking our sin and dying in our place which meant that God accepted the “scapegoat” and forgave our sin and removed it permanently.

Mark, and all of the gospel writers, included the details that were needed to assure the future followers of Jesus that His death had both physical and spiritual dimensions.

Let’s read Mark 15:33-41

There are three things that are stated by Mark that point to the meaning of Jesus’s death on the cross.

Jesus was forsaken by His God and Father because of our sin. King David wrote In Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. The truth in this passage is that God will never forsake the righteous. All through scripture we see this truth played out in the lives of the saints. Yet, Jesus was forsaken. What that means is that He became ‘unrighteous’ because sin.

Jesus didn’t sin Himself, but our sins were placed on Him and became His sins. He became the scapegoat for us and took all the blame and punishment. But this sin was very real and it separated Him from God.

That’s why He cried out “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me.” Those weren’t just words uttered to satisfy a prophetic prediction, they were real and painful and deeply personal. He was really alone.

Jesus experienced physical death for our sin. Mark tells that after Jesus cried out, He ‘breathed His last’ the words used are clear and unadorned. Jesus died physically. His body hung lifeless on the cross for all to see. The death of Jesus is important because death is the result of sin. When the first humans sinned death was the result. The Bible also tells us that the wages of sin is death. When Jesus experienced death it was because of sin. Sinless perfection can’t die so the only way that Jesus could taste death was by becoming sin for us.

Jesus death opened the way to God for everyone. It’s important to understand that the veil of the temple was torn at the moment that Jesus died. You might wonder why that’s such a big deal.

The veil of the temple was a thick curtain that separated people from the Holiest place, and it was symbolic of the sin that separated human beings from their Holy God. The only humans who were allowed to enter the Holiest Place were the High Priests and they could only enter once a year on the Day of Atonement with the blood of sacrifice. This blood “atoned” for the sins of the people giving them a fresh start with God.

The blood made it possible for the priest to enter God’s presence. When Jesus died on the cross His blood removed the barrier that separated us from God. Every person who by faith is cleansed by the blood of Jesus can enter into God’s presence. The veil wasn’t needed any more because sin had been atoned for by the blood of Jesus.

There’s something else that Mark writes that gives us a hint that this death of Jesus was for all people. Of all the people to be the first to proclaim that Jesus was who He claimed to be after His death the most unlikely candidate would be a Roman centurion. The man who was responsible for making sure that Jesus died was the first one to attach spiritual meaning to His death.

It’s obvious that the Centurion didn’t have the clearest insight because He spoke of Jesus in the past tense, but somehow He knew that Jesus was more than a man condemned to death. If it was possible for him it’s possible for everyone.

Cruelty - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

Last week we looked at why people substitute other things for Jesus. These substitutes are always worse or inferior to the real thing and we’re reminded once again that remaining true to Jesus is important as a community of believers.

When Mel Gibson directed the epic “The Passion of the Christ” he encountered an interesting dilemma. His desire was to tell the story of Jesus ‘passion’ in accurate detail but when he began the process of editing the scenes of the beating and scourging of Jesus they were so cruel and intense they where overwhelming.

Those of us who have seen this film in its entirety know how intense the edited version was and its hard to imagine what it would have been like had Gibson not toned it down.

The passion of Christ gives us a brief glimpse into the depths of unrestrained human cruelty.

Let’s read Mark 15:16-32

Usually when I prepare a message I try to boil it down and give you something that applies to your daily life of following Jesus. But the crucifixion stories are a little different. This is the beginning of the central point of our faith in Christ.

Without Jesus’ death (and resurrection) Christian faith is useless. So it’s really impossible to add anything to boil this down to a practical application. I mean you may someday have someone beating you senseless to the point of death for no reason, but the worst case scenario for most of us will be how to get the coffee stains off our favorite shirt, or how to deal with a difficult boss. But these pale in comparison to what Jesus endured.

I think it’s important that we understand that what we’ve just read are not simply words on a page. Real human beings really did subject Jesus to unspeakable acts of cruelty.

Mark is very brief and simply mentions that Jesus was scourged. In fact none of the gospel writers explain what it meant to be scourged. They didn’t have to because in their day it was so common that people knew how hideous and cruel it was.

I found this description of scourging on the Bible-History website: The Roman scourge, also called the "flagrum" or "flagellum" was a short whip made of two or three leather (ox-hide) thongs or ropes connected to a handle. The leather thongs were knotted with a number of small pieces of metal, usually zinc and iron, attached at various intervals.

Sometimes the Roman scourge contained a hook at the end and was given the terrifying name "scorpion." The criminal was made to stoop which would make deeper lashes from the shoulders to the waist. According to Jewish law (discipline of the synagogue) the number of stripes was forty less one (Deut. 25:3) and the rabbis reckoned 168 actions to be punished by scourging before the judges. Nevertheless, scourging among the Romans was a more severe form of punishment and there was no legal limit to the number of blows, as with the Jews. Deep lacerations, torn flesh, exposed muscles and excessive bleeding would leave the criminal "half-dead." Death was often the result of this cruel form of punishment though it was necessary to keep the criminal alive to be brought to public subjugation on the cross. The Centurion in charge would order the "lictors" to halt the flogging when the criminal was near death.

But scourging had a deeper meaning. Scourging is often a metaphor for divine punishment. In Isaiah 53:4 it says “we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.”

The things that Jesus suffered would have signaled to the people that He was being punished and afflicted by God. They would have seen what was happening and assumed that Jesus was a false messiah that God had turned over to the Romans.

Jesus was literally taking on Himself the wrath of God that we deserved. The prophet Isaiah continues in Isaiah 53:5 But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

All of these things are happening to Jesus in vs. 16-20.

There were a lot of things that Jesus could have done. He could have called a legion on angels from heaven to come to His side. He could have performed some miraculous sign to change the course of events. At the very least He could have taken the pain killer of wine and myrrh they offered Him. But

Jesus chose to endure the full intensity of cruelty from the people He came to save. Even the criminals hanging on either side of Him publicly ridiculed Him.

Jesus endured the cruelty of the Romans, the Jews, and even criminals. But to me what makes this even more amazing is that He was suffering at the hands of the people He had created. The emotional toll must have been enormous.

There is no way that we can wrap our heads around the pain He must have felt. It wasn’t just people that were doing this. They were His people, His possession. They had rejected Him and now they were executing Him with the punishment they deserved.

It seems to me that the ultimate act of cruelty is to harm others when you’re the one who deserves the punishment.

John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Not only did they not receive Him they wounded, bruised, and chastised Him. The things they were saying while Jesus hung there were all things He could have done. He was the King, He could have destroyed the temple and He could have come down from the cross and beat them up if He wanted to.

Jesus showed amazing restraint in the face of cruelty and humiliation. We should remember that when we’re tempted to judge others.

The amazing thing is that He endured it all for us; the cruelty, the pain, the humiliation.

Amazing love….

The Substitute - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

Last week we looked at Peter’s denial of Jesus and how it began when Peter decided to follow Jesus at a distance. That’s a cautionary tale for us to take seriously. When we decide to ‘follow Jesus at a safe distance’ we have made our first decision to deny Him. So we’re reminded once again that staying close to Jesus is important as a community or believers.

Today the story of Jesus’ final night before His crucifixion takes us through His judgment before Pilate.

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘substitute?’ (teachers, ingredients, team sports, foods, etc.) There’s a reason they’re substitutes they typically aren’t as good as the real thing.

Substitutes are usually worse, or inferior to the real thing. We use them when the real thing isn’t available to us or we substitute things of lower quality because what we want seems to be too expensive. People decide on substitutions for lots of things but one substitution is by far the most costly and we’ll see that substitution played out through the eyes of Mark….

Let’s read Mark 15:6-15

One nagging question about this passage comes to mind whenever I read this passage; why did these people choose Barabbas? The Bible makes it clear that they knew he was a convicted criminal.

He was a rebel who had led a revolt against the Romans that included murder. That leads me to believe that those He killed weren’t Roman soldiers killed in a battle. My guess is that they probably killed some tax collectors to get money to fund their rebellion.

This was a bad dude and placed opposite Jesus it should have been a clear choice but for some reason this crowd chose Barabbas. Since Pilate was trying to find a way to release Jesus it seems pretty clear that he thought it was an obvious choice.

What blinded these people so that they would reject Jesus for a robber? Why would they substitute a robber for the real thing?

I guess we could ask the same question today. Why do people reject Jesus for the robber who comes to steal kill and destroy lives? Why do they make this terrible substitution?

I can see three reasons why people choose a substitute for Jesus I in this passage:

Personal bias: choosing to deny the truth vs. 10-11 reveal that the religious leaders had it in for Jesus. They had a personal agenda that was biased against Jesus and they would have been happy with any substitute. In reality they had become so comfortable with cheapo substitutes that it was really easy for them to do it. They had substituted a man made system of rules and regulations for God’s law and they carefully crafted the rules in their own favor.

That’s why they hated Jesus so much. He showed up on the scene and the flimsy curtain they were hiding behind was being shredded by the truth. It really was an inconvenient truth that they didn’t want to admit.

Jesus still poses that same threat. If we really consider the real Jesus, the Jesus of His word, the Jesus of the gospels, He presents us with one BIG inconvenient truth that just won’t go away.

Jesus came as the light of the world, the revealed truth of God and John’s gospel tells us that this Light exposes us for what we really are. Its so inconvenient people will take the substitute rather than life. No one wants to admit that they’re not ‘good.’ In fact there are preachers and teachers that will tell us that deep down we really are good and people flock to them. That’s because they are scratching the itch of our personal bias.

Funny thing is that Jesus came and said we’re all evil and hopelessly lost and separated from God. Never once did He say we’re o.k. just the way they we are. The religious leaders didn’t want to hear that and frankly neither do we.

I think that if Jesus were to come to our churches and tell us the truth we’d find Him to be very inconvenient and we might even cry out for His crucifixion. But as a side note He loves us so much He’d tell us the truth even it if cost Him His life all over again.

Popular will: choosing to follow the crowd vs. 11-14 the people were influenced to substitute Barabbas for Jesus because it was the popular thing to do. The religious leaders started it off by using their influence and pretty soon the crowd was crying for Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be crucified.

People for the most part just naturally follow the crowd, even those who claim to be ‘doing their own thing’ probably aren’t, they’re just following a different crowd.

Popular will has a viral quality to it. It’s starts out small, maybe with one or two people, then they tell some friends and then those friends tells some friends and the next thing you know its spread around the world and it becomes so big that everyone jumps on board.

There’s a strong momentum with popular will that makes it hard to resist. It’s much easier to follow the crowd than to risk being an outcast. Popular will can be fairly innocent but it can also take on a dark, sinister vibe.

One such vibe is what we know as a ‘mob mentality’ that can take hold of us and we’ll actually do something with a group that we’d never do alone.

Jesus warned us that the road to destruction would be really popular and full of people all heading in the wrong direction and that’s what happened to the crowd that day and they chose to substitute popular will for Jesus.

Compromise: avoiding the cost of choosing Jesus vs. 15 tells that Pilate chose to release Barabbas because he wanted to ‘gratify’ the crowd. He could have released Jesus but chose the substitute because it would cost him too much. Pilate knew that if the people rebelled that he would be forced to put them down with violence and it would likely cost him his job or worse. The substitute wasn’t great but in his mind it looked like a less expensive alternative.

Jesus said that following Him would be costly, taking up His cross and being hated by the very people we love. He cautioned us to count the cost because it would be hard.

Like Pilate, when people really consider the claims of Jesus they find it to be too costly and they often settle for a cheap substitute.

Conclusion: It’s pretty easy for us to look at the world around us and point out people who have substituted the things of this world for their relationship to God with Jesus. But, I think it’s important for those of us who claim that we’re followers of Jesus to take a step back and see if there are things we’re substituting in place of Jesus and His desire for our life.

Like Barabbas we stand guilty and condemned. We deserve to die for our sins the things we’ve done to hurt others, ourselves, and ultimately God Himself.

(This is the video we used)

Jesus stands ready and willing to substitute His life for ours so that we can go free

We’re rebellious robbers who are chained together under the authority of a hostile invader who wants us dead.

Like Barabbas we don’t understand it all but when all is said and done if we’ll look back at what has happened we’ll realize that Jesus gave His life for ours and the punishment we deserved He took upon Himself.

Look at Him today and see the joy in His eyes as another one of God’s children is set free.

The Silence of the Lamb - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

Last week we looked at Jesus’ agony in the garden of Gethsemane and how He provided us with an example for dealing with the messy, chaotic, painful events in our life.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were falsely accused of something or where your actions were misread and it caused a problem? I think most of us in that situation feel compelled to set the record straight and make sure the people involved understand what really happened. Do you ever wonder why we have such a huge desire to be understood? What’s our motivation?

Let’s think of it in another way what if we couldn’t or wouldn’t defend ourselves or attempt to clear up misunderstandings?

Would it be safe to say that the main reason we do it is to protect ourselves and in most cases protect our reputation? Deep down we all care about what other people think about us don’t we? It eats away at us when we’re misunderstood or falsely accused and we can’t stand it.

We’ve seen the fall out from this kind of thing and we know it’s not pretty. People talk and they almost prefer to believe the rumors and accusations. Guilty until proven innocent may be true in the eyes of the law but it’s not true for the court of public opinion.

We’ve all seen the injustice that goes with this kind of thing and if we’re honest we’d have to say we’re guilty of doing it ourselves.

I know that I can be very judgmental at times especially when it comes to people who I don’t like very well or live in a certain way that I don’t like. I think we can all be like that at times and we have a tendency to blur or ignore the line between being informed and gossip.

But even worse than that is when we have the ability to defend someone who is being falsely accused or misrepresented and we shrink back from doing it because we don’t want to get involved or if the person is taking an unpopular stance or has become the subject of ridicule we want to stay away because we don’t want our reputation to suffer.

It’s easier to allow them to take the hit and suffer isolation than to risk being hurt and outcast ourselves.

In situations like this there are always two kinds of guilt the guilt of commission and the guilt of omission. Commission means I did something to hurt someone and omission means I failed to do something that hurt someone.

Today the story of Jesus’ final night before His crucifixion takes us through both of these situations….

Let’s read Mark 14:53-15:5

In vs. 53-65 Jesus faces the first of His accusers. There’s some debate as to whether this was an illegal trial or simply a fact finding inquiry but it doesn’t really matter because the intent of the religious leaders was clear; they wanted to get rid of Jesus. They were so desperate they brought in willing accomplices to lie and give false testimony about Jesus.

The reason they went to this trouble is because not all of the elders were involved in the plot or had knowledge of what was going on. Since this group of people weren’t in on the conspiracy they could stop what was going on so they needed to be convinced.

When you look at this scene it was laughable. The witness didn’t agree on anything and when they finally found something they did agree on they couldn’t even get that story straight. When you look back at the other attempts that were made to entrap Jesus it’s obvious that it would have been easy for Jesus to defeat them but He chose to remain silent.

When the High Priest had finally had enough of the circus in front of him he decided to directly accuse Jesus and he went with a charge that was sure to get everyone’s approval, blasphemy. Jesus had remained silent until this but He knew that answering this question directly would lead to His death. It’s interesting that Jesus answered by saying “I am” which is the covenant name of God but didn’t use that phrase when Pilate questioned Him. To Pilate it wouldn’t mean anything but to the religious leaders it was blasphemous. We know Jesus was the Christ, but they were blinded to that fact.

Blasphemy was punishable by death in the Jewish religion but because they were under Roman control they couldn’t put anyone to death so they had to convince Pilate to do it.

That’s why they take Jesus to Pilate in 15:1-5. But he wouldn’t do it because of a religious offense. The other gospels reveal that the religious leaders changed their accusation from blasphemy to revolutionary. Before Pilate they accused Him of saying He was the King of the Jews. That would put Jesus in direct opposition to Roman rule. That’s why Pilate asks Jesus “Are you the king of the Jews?” and that’s why Jesus answers with “You said it!”

Jesus’ silence in the face of such strong accusations caused Pilate to marvel, or admire Him. I’m sure Pilate had seen plenty of men try to cut a deal or become argumentative. But Jesus remained silent and didn’t put up any defense. Jesus knew that His silence meant a death sentence and that people would turn on Him but He did it anyway. The fact that Pilate marveled seems to say that he knew Jesus wasn’t guilty of the things He was accused of and that there was a certain something about Him that didn’t add up.

Then right in the middle of these two trials vs. 66-72 we see the story of Peter’s denial. It actually starts in vs. 54. It says that Peter followed at a distance. Doesn’t that seem to be where trouble starts for those who follow Jesus? When we make the decision to follow Jesus at a safe distance we’re already in the first steps of denial. We really can’t play it safe and follow Jesus it just doesn’t work out so well.

What comes next in Peter’s story is just the natural outcome of playing it safe. We won’t ever know Peter’s specific reasons for denying Jesus this side of heaven, but I think we all know why because we’ve all done it at some level.

It’s ironic that the man who would put Jesus to death admired Him and the man who followed Jesus denied Him.

Peter knew he had done something that he personally would have refused to forgive. Abandoning and denying a friend in need was disgraceful and Peter knew it and he was moved to tears of remorse and regret. He knew the depth of his sin and it hurt deeply.

We might be able to give ourselves a pass if we’ve never directly denied Jesus but have we failed to speak up when someone if being talked about or falsely accused or mistreated? Jesus said that whatever we do or don’t do for others we do to Him.

But I think we need to understand something, even though Peter denied Jesus, Jesus never let go of him. It doesn’t excuse Peter’s actions but it does show us the depth of Jesus’ love and grace.

So how do we respond? What should we do? I think the best place to start is by staying close to Jesus and to love as He has loved. Refuse to believe the lie that staying out of a situation or remaining silent when we should speak up or defend someone who is being hurt is ok.

Reckless compassion means that I will follow Jesus even when it costs me something especially my reputation. In fact Jesus warned us to be careful when people say good things about us.

We don’t have to be admired or respected but we do need to follow Jesus closely.

The Garden of Agony - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

The last week we looked at the Lord’s Supper and how it represented the shift from the Law of Moses to the gospel of grace and truth.

Today we come to one of the darkest points in the entire story of the life of Jesus; His agony and betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane. While we’ll never quite endure what Jesus did there is a lot we can learn from the example of Jesus in the garden of agony that night.

Let’s read Mark 14:32-52

Vs. 33-34 tells us that Jesus knew that the time was coming when He would be betrayed, abandoned, and denied by His friends. All of this was weighing heavily on His mind and heart.

We’ve all faced situations that we knew were coming but we dreaded them just the same. I mean does it make the surgery less painful when we know its coming? Does the loss of a loved one hurt less when we know its coming? In fact in some ways knowing what’s coming can make it worse and the dread and anticipation may be even harder to take than the actual event.

There’s an old joke I like to tell it goes like this: “I would rather die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather rather than screaming in terror like the people who were riding in the car with him.” I know booo…., but it does ring true doesn’t it? Knowing what’s coming doesn’t necessarily make it easier. So lets get that cleared up right now.

Just because Jesus knew what was ahead it didn’t minimize the suffering He endured and it didn’t minimize His human need for friendship and His spiritual need for prayer.

Speaking of prayer, Vs. 36 reveals His inner turmoil and struggle to come to terms with His Father’s will. Because He was a man and had walked among the sick and poor He had seen and experienced first hand what He knew; sin had taken a terrible toll on the people and the world He had created and He knew that very soon He would be taking on the full weight of that sin and the full separation that it would bring between Himself and the Father.

Three times while He’s praying He stops and goes to find His disciples, its almost as if His lonely sorrow becomes almost unbearable and He needs the companionship of His friends. How discouraging do you think it was when He found them sleeping? In someway this was just a foreshadowing of what was to come.
Vs. 42-43 is the transition as what was anticipated begins to happen. Looking at the events of this passage it seems to me that Jesus had a general knowledge of what was going to happen but not such clear precision to know exactly where and when. He said “Rise let us be going” as if to flee. Maybe He was trying to protect His disciples, we don’t know but we do know that the very things Jesus dreaded were now upon Him as Judas betrays Him with the words Rabbi, Rabbi. and a kiss. The words Rabbi, Rabbi showed that Judas was betraying Him intellectually and the kiss represents His emotional and spiritual betrayal. In other words Judas’ betrayal was complete and total.

Judas had worked out this sign because he probably wanted to avoid a messy confrontation. At night there would be fewer witnesses, it would be harder to see and it would be easy for the mob to get confused and grab the wrong man. By kissing Jesus and calling Him Rabbi there wouldn’t be any mistakes. The fact that Judas wanted them to take Him away safely showed that He didn’t want anything to do with a violent arrest in the garden.

But Judas wasn’t the only guilty one in the garden that night. Vs. 50-52 tell us that everyone abandoned Him in the hours of His greatest need they all ran away. They ran away in such a hurry that at least one young man left his clothes behind. But leaving clothes behind was the least important thing they left that night.

Looking at this messy, chaotic scene reminds me that if life can be messy and painful for Jesus then we’re not going to be immune to these things. The facts are these: If we haven’t experienced the tragic, chaotic, messiness of life we will and if we have experienced it we can be sure that we will again. So what can we learn from the “garden of agony?”

Jesus’ actions and words tell us that authentic prayer is essential. I think its important to see that Jesus didn’t candy coat or deny how He was feeling. His experience in the garden prayer was raw and gritty. No pious platitudes or denial of reality. If we were to pray this same prayer in our modern speech it would be “Dad and Father, I know you can do anything you want to do and I want you to make this all go away. I don’t want to go through this but I will if you want me too.”

There’s almost this war going on between His flesh and spirit that is mirrored in His words to Simon Peter “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

There's a genuineness to His prayer that we should remember when we're desperate.

Jesus showed us how to stand and face our circumstances. One of the temptations we face in hard times is to try and run away or make a deal to get out of it. But Jesus didn’t try to escape or cut a deal with them. He showed a strong resolve to follow God’s will.

We can't really run away from our problems, even if we try they catch up with us. And making a deal with the devil to try and ease our situation will only make matters worse. But strong resolve to face our trials in the strength that God supplies will see us through.

There’s one final thought I’d like to share with you. In vs. 32 it tells us that this event takes place in Gethsemane. Gethsemane was a garden that was on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. It was called the Mount of Olives because there was a grove of olive trees there. We know that olives can be eaten but olive oil was the real treasure so every olive grove had to have a ‘gethsemane,’ the Hebrew word for an olive press.

Olives had to be pressed and crushed to release the real treasure, the oil that was stored inside. At the right time olives were harvested and placed in an olive press and crushed with a heavy stone. This was done twice with the first pressing producing the purest oil and second pressing was the pulp and it produced oil mixed with water. The collected oil was then used in almost every part of the daily lives of the people. The oil was used as fuel for lamps to light their homes; it was used in their cooking, for ointment to heal their wounds, and in perfumes and beauty treatments. Olive oil was also important in the symbols of their faith.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that Jesus was in “Gethsemane” the olive press on this night. As the weight of that night and the events that were to come pressed down upon Him Luke’s gospel tells us Jesus sweat great drops of blood. But like the olives that were pressed in this place to provide the oil that touched every part of their life Jesus knew that the pain and suffering He would endure would touch lives for eternity.

Jesus showed us that suffering is redemptive. It’s clear from Jesus’ prior words that He knew the greater purpose of His suffering. God's plan for the redemption and reconciliation of His children to Himself ran through the suffering of Jesus. But I think we can forget that our suffering is redemptive too. God allows and uses our suffering for our good. Through suffering we can more closely identify with Jesus in His suffering and God has made a promise to us in Romans 8:28 that God works ALL things together for our good.

If we suffer because of personal sin in our life then God allows it to draw us back to Him. If we suffer for doing good then God allows it be an example of His glory in us that will draw others to Him.

Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to [those who are] bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees (olive?) of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

Beauty for ashes (oil was used as a beauty treatment), The oil of joy for mourning (oil was used in all of their celebration feasts) But this also tells us that this happens so that the people He has redeemed and healed will be His olive trees of righteousness that He may be glorified.

So as we experience the crushing pressure of life’s tragedies and pain we can be sure that the oil produced by our suffering will not be wasted because we’re His trees of righteousness.

It’s been said that God never wastes anything. We may not see the big picture but we can be sure that…

God collects every tear and uses them to water the seeds of His grace planted in our hearts.

The Table of Grace - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

The last week we were challenged to look at whether we are more interested in our personal convenience or in the costly pursuit of following Jesus no matter what.

Today we’re going to look at Mark 14:12-31. This passage tells us about some lasts; the last night before Jesus would be crucified. It’s the last Passover he would celebrate and it’s the last night He would be with the 12 original disciples together in one place ever.

But it also marks a first; it’s the first time the Lord’s Supper is celebrated.

Let’s read Mark 14:12-31

You’ll notice that this passage is broken into 3 sub plots: the Passover, the Lord’s Supper, and Peter’s denial of his future denial.

I’m drawing your attention to this because it’s an important transition.

It’s no coincidence that God’s plan would include the sacrifice of His only Son to occur during Passover. Everything is in place and the time has come for Jesus to pour out His life and in these two meals we see the symbols of this in vs. 12-26

The shift from the Passover to the Lord’s Supper marks the transfer from the Law of Moses to the gospel of grace and truth; from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Passover was celebrated in remembrance of God delivering His people from Egyptian bondage and the Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated in remembrance of Jesus delivering all people from the bondage sin.

The Passover was remembered with a meal focused on a sacrificial lamb that was killed and eaten. The Lord’s Supper is a meal to remember the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins.

The Passover brings to remembrance the blood of a lamb that was placed on the lintel and door posts so that death would pass over the people. The Lord’s Supper brings to remembrance the blood of the Lamb, Jesus, which was shed on the posts of a cross to allow people to pass over from death to life.

There’s something else to consider. The Passover meal was to be shared with others and Jesus, on this night shared the meal with others and who He shared it with showed the move from the law to grace.

As Jesus sat with these guys He knew that He’d be dead the next day and even though He had told His disciples 2 or 3 times before hand what was going to happen they still didn’t connect the dots. But that’s not all Jesus knew. He knew that one of the men who sat at the table with Him that night was in the very process of betraying Him and He also knew that everyone else would abandon Him or deny they knew Him before dawn.

Jesus’ heart had to be aching knowing that He would be betrayed by a friend, denied by His followers, and forsaken by His Father. Luke’s gospel tells us that at this very table Jesus had to listen to His disciples argue about who would be the greatest among them.

Do you know what I think is the most amazing thing in this story? Even though His friends were acting like jerks and knowing what they were all going to do before the night was done He still invited them to sit as His table and eat with Him.

The disciples were invited to the table and not one of them was worthy to be there.

We all know that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the men who would have him put to death. Jesus knew He was doing it and He could have told Him not to show up at dinner. But the same could be said for all of the others. Jesus could have eaten this meal with others who would have stood by Him to the very end. The women who showed up at the cross: His mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome to name a few.

But Jesus chooses to eat with those who would betray Him, abandon Him, and deny that they even knew Him.

It says in John 15:16a "You did not choose Me, but I chose you……

Do you realize that Jesus has chosen to be in a relationship with us?

When I was a kid is school I remember there were popular kids and I wanted to be their friend. But my choice to be their friend didn’t matter because they ignored me. It seemed the harder I worked to gain their acceptance the more they rejected me. It just made matters worse because they didn’t choose me because I wasn’t up to their standards, what ever they were.

The amazing thing is that Jesus the perfect Son of God chooses people like us. Look at vs. 29 and vs. 31 and notice Peter’s and the other disciple’s promises (FYI Judas was already gone). Promises that Jesus knew would soon be broken. That reminds me of me. I know I’ve made lots of promises to Jesus and His Dad. Some of them I intended to keep and some of them I made just to get out of whatever hot water I was in at the time. I don’t think I’ve kept any of them completely and you know what? Jesus knew I couldn’t and wouldn’t keep them and that I was lying through my teeth on some of them and the incredible truth is that Jesus still chooses to call me His friend and disciple and He invites me to come to His table and share this meal with Him.

Romans 8:1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation (judgment against you) to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

There is no condemnation because Jesus chose to be our friend and savior. He chose to shed His blood on the cross for us to forgive our sins and all He really asks in return is for us to be His friends and to follow Him. Like the first disciples it means we’ll have to leave our old life behind, but who needs that old sinful thing anyway when Jesus offers us His kingdom, His life, and His love.

Imagine how things would have turned out for Judas if he had chosen to stay at the table as Jesus’ friend that night. If there was a place at the table for a traitor like Judas there’s a place at the table for us and Jesus invites us to come.

This first step is to say yes to His offer to follow Him and leaving our sinful life behind. But there’s so much more as He invites us to His table as His friends to stay close to Him and share in His life.

It really doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how many promises you broken. If you’ve betrayed Him, denied Him, broken promises to Him He still invites you to come to the table as His friend.

Costly or Conveniently? - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah

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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this morning.

The last time we looked the ‘end times’ warning that Jesus gave His disciples in Mark 13. He warned them, and us, about 4 spiritual dangers that we will face as time draws to a close. They are Dependence on religious or political power for security. Deception by false messiahs, Distraction by world turmoil and being Discouraged by the severity of persecution. In addition to that He gave them the best promise of all He would return someday to establish His eternal kingdom on the earth and to right every wrong.

Today we’re going to look at Mark 14:1-11. Mark 14 is the turning point in the Passion Week story. We know that Jesus will be crucified by the end of this week and this chapter marks the final turn toward that moment in history.

Let’s read Mark 14:1-11

When I was reading over this passage there were two words that jumped out at me. The first word is costly. That’s the word in vs. 3 that is used to describe the oil that the woman, most likely Mary Magdalene, poured out on Jesus’ head.

The second word was conveniently found in vs. 11. That’s the word that is used to describe the actions Judas would take to betray Jesus.

This passage starts out in vs. 1-2 with a little back story about what was happening behind the scenes out of public view. The religious leaders had stopped trying to test and trap Jesus and now they were going full out to plot a way to kill Jesus without inciting a riot among the people. For them it wasn’t a matter of if, but when. Their minds were made up; Jesus was too much of a threat. They couldn’t ignore Him. They couldn’t defeat Him and they couldn’t discredit Him. It was clear to them that Jesus had to go when there was a convenient time.

In vs. 10 and 11 we see that they had an unexpected friend in Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ disciples. It appears that Jesus’ response to what Judas considered a waste of money by the woman who poured the costly oil on Jesus was the straw that broke the camel’s back and sent Judas off the edge.

He went to the chief priests and made a deal to turn Jesus over to them for some money. It might be just me, but doesn’t it seem that those who love money also love convenience? It’s almost as if one feeds the other. A desire for things that will make life more convenient and comfortable leads to a desire to have more money to get those things and what ends up happening is we get on a treadmill that we can’t seem to stop.

Both the chief priests and Judas were looking for a convenient way to get rid of Jesus. They wanted some way that would keep their actions and motives from being discovered. They didn’t care about the legality of what they were doing. They weren’t even concerned about the spiritual implications of their actions. All they cared about was making sure that they got rid of Jesus and that they looked like they were doing something good and righteous. They didn’t want to have to deal with a big mess.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths we will go to try and cover up our sin. Why is that we work so hard to look good to people when what they think of us really doesn’t matter when it comes to things eternal.

We need to keep that in mind. What they didn’t realize and we need to remember is that…

Convenience in Spiritual things usually looks good on the surface but in the end it costs more than you bargained for.

Let’s be honest don’t we fall into this trap? When we know what the Bible says we should do but we do something else aren’t we taking what seems to be the convenient, easy way out? We all do it. We make excuses and rationalize our sin when we should repent of them. That’s the convenient thing to do, but we fail to consider the true cost. If I read my Bible correctly that convenience will only lead to pain and alienation from God and others. That’s not a good trade if you ask me.

Now let’s turn our attention to vs. 3-9. Jesus is sharing a meal with His disciples and the family of Simon the leper when a woman comes in with a very costly flask of oil. It was a fragrant perfume that probably cost her a year’s wages. How she got that much money isn’t known but there were very limited options for a woman in those days which has led some to suggest she was a woman who sold herself to others.

Jesus is sitting at the table of a man who is possibly an unclean leper, and having His hair soaked in perfume by a woman who was possibly a sinner. Now there’s a picture for you. The convenient thing for Jesus to do was to stay somewhere else and tell the woman to leave. The costly thing was to do what He was doing and risk the hits to His reputation. But this was only one aspect of this costly situation.

If we didn’t know what was coming later in this passage we might be inclined to agree with the disciples about this whole scene. On the surface it looks wasteful and strange and Jesus allowing it and even defending it would have seemed awkward. I mean how would you feel if some woman came in off the street while I was preaching and started washing my hair with perfume? I can assure you that I’d feel weird and not a little freaked out.

Jesus took it in stride because He knew that there was a deeper meaning to all of this and it was so important He made sure that what she did would be remembered forever.

What did it all mean? The woman’s actions were remembered for two reasons: In vs. 8. Jesus said that she had done what she could.

She gave a costly gift to Jesus simply because she could not because she had to. Her devotion to Jesus compelled her to offer what she could.

Remember the widow who put the two small coins in the treasury in ch.12? Jesus said she gave more than anyone else because she gave everything she had. Her ‘costly’ gift was only 2 small coins but she gave it because that’s what she could give. Giving one would have been more convenient and giving three was impossible. She gave what was costly. Jesus admires both of these women because they gave what they could.

Why did this woman’s gift impact Jesus like it did? The second part of vs. 8 says that she came to anoint His body for burial.

Her costly gift was a symbol of Jesus’ costly sacrifice. She broke the alabaster container symbolizing how the body of Jesus would be broken by the cruelty and beatings He would endure. She poured out the perfume symbolizing His blood that would be poured out for our sins as He would be nailed to a cross and pierced with a Roman spear.

It’s interesting to note that those who thought it was a waste were the same ones who thought His crucifixion was a waste. There was no way that any of them could have known the powerful witness her actions would provide or even how they would have a ripple effect on the heart of Judas to betray Jesus.

The woman (and the widow) offered what was costly to them because they could and they weren’t concerned about what they would have left over.

The priests and Judas wanted to get rid of Jesus conveniently because they were worried about what they would have left. The priests their reputation and position and Judas the money he would have when he was done with Jesus.

When we’re more concerned with what we’ll have left we miss out on what could have been. We trade our opportunities for convenience when we could offer what is costly to Jesus. While they may not have much value in the eyes of the world….

When we offer our costly things to Jesus (our time, our talents and our treasures) we bless His heart and they become tools in His hands to touch people beyond ourselves.